Even in case you’re new to boating, it’s unlikely that you just’re fully new to GPS programs. Perhaps you’ve a automobile GPS to get you from level A to level B; perhaps you depend on a smartphone; or perhaps you’ve gotten very, very expert at navigating Google Earth to creep in your favourite Zillow listings. (No judgment.) Regardless, we’re pretty constructive you aren’t studying this text having solely ever seen an old style paper map.
In contrast to every of those examples, although, most trendy, digital marine charts have a number of layers, and those you’ll give attention to essentially the most rely upon what kind of exercise or boating you’re going to do. Whether or not you need a normal navigation chart — simply one thing easy to get you the place you’re going — or one thing with super-detailed depth contours or reduction shading to offer a clearer view of backside construction for fishing functions, don’t have any concern. The Garmin and Navionics® household of cartography has all of it. Relying on which chartplotter or cell system you’re utilizing, you’ll be capable to flip forwards and backwards between some or the entire following totally different layers to get the proper view for the duty at hand.
Navigation Chart
An overhead view for navigating that features knowledge for buoys, lights, cables, depth soundings, marinas, tide stations and extra.
Fishing Chart
An enhanced, detailed view of backside contours, depth soundings and detailed bathymetric knowledge that’s good for figuring out fishing constructions like humps, holes and ledges, whether or not you’re fishing in salt water or contemporary. On Navionics merchandise, that is known as the SonarChart™ HD bathymetry map.
Reduction Shading Chart Overlay
A high-resolution elevation shading of lakes and coastal waters that mixes coloration and shadow for an easy-to-interpret, clearer view of backside construction than contour traces alone can present. This view could make it straightforward to identify channels, flats and even sunken ships that make up synthetic reefs.
Satellite tv for pc Imagery Chart Overlay
Excessive-resolution satellite tv for pc imagery overlay paired with a navigational chart to offer you a sensible view of your environment for improved situational consciousness.
Sonar Imagery
A view that reveals backside hardness in vivid coloration to focus on each delicate and dramatic transition areas. Laborious bottoms may embody rocks or gravel or submerged highway or creek beds, whereas comfortable bottoms may embody sand or mud.
3D View
A 3-D illustration of the encompassing space from both above or under the waterline. Completely different 3-D views embody MarinerEye and FishEye.
ActiveCaptain® Group
The ActiveCaptain Group layer crowdsources datapoints from a neighborhood of boaters to incorporate factors of curiosity that customers have uploaded, together with info like rankings and opinions of marinas, gas costs, native situation adjustments, new hazards and extra. The most recent replace additionally consists of photographs.
So many decisions, proper? Don’t let it overwhelm you. Shaun Ruge, Garmin director of marine enterprise improvement and licensed constitution captain, has recommendation for anybody making their debut as a boater.
“New boaters must know they don’t should overthink it,” he says. “Folks get actually intimidated by stepping into boating. Boats aren’t as straightforward as automobiles, and there aren’t as clearly outlined paths of navigation, proper? It’s not a highway, and there aren’t completely outlined lanes, however there’s a system.” And also you don’t essentially have to make use of a compass — that is the place Garmin and Navionics take out numerous the intimidation and guesswork. “You may play with colours to make the map look so simple as you’d prefer it to look. It may be as straightforward as staying in a single coloration and out of the opposite.”
To be taught extra about Garmin and Navionics cartography — or to make the leap and buy a chartplotter — click on right here.
